tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post1518814501638873864..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: Timing is Everything TomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-34216371262264198462017-09-21T04:59:19.207+02:002017-09-21T04:59:19.207+02:00Which is wonderful! I can't quite believe (no...Which is wonderful! I can't quite believe (not to beat around the Bush) that I can download The Plumley Inheritance (rarissimus!), or will be able to read Flying Ass and the WWII books. Kudos to Curt and the publishers.Nick Fullerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05668031989499870182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-26280714207940449872017-09-21T04:44:12.753+02:002017-09-21T04:44:12.753+02:00Yes, there’s a real sense, as Curt says, of the de...Yes, there’s a real sense, as Curt says, of the detective story as a game, that's largely lacking from Crofts. (Crofts and his school, going back to Freeman, are more interested in processes - how the detective solves the crime and proves his case, how the criminal commits it - than in the detective story as a battle of wits.) In his introduction to The Perfect Murder Case, Curt points to the book’s opening as an example of challenging the reader. <br /><br />Bush also “dangles clues lovingly in front of the reader”. Many books open with Travers telling the reader what the main clues are – and daring the reader to make sense of them.Nick Fullerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05668031989499870182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-10482054981916807322017-09-19T22:23:11.448+02:002017-09-19T22:23:11.448+02:00Oh, no, it wasn't that, at least I don't b...Oh, no, it wasn't that, at least I don't believe so. After all, BL was able to get Murder of a Lady, which I had really praised on the blog, reprinted. It would be nice to see all of his back though. They certainly vary in quality, but some I quite enjoyed. And they do have the fun of the miracle problem.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-41972903733090402862017-09-19T22:16:39.352+02:002017-09-19T22:16:39.352+02:00"I tried to get all the Wynne books reprinted..."<i>I tried to get all the Wynne books reprinted, but sometimes you get cooperation from families, sometimes you don't</i>."<br /><br />I thought his heirs only had a problem with his political ideas, or economic theories, getting republished, because it attracted a crowd they were not particularly charmed by. Surely, that does not extend all the way to his mystery novels? He was a very productive writer of impossible crime fiction and would love to see at least a few of them appear back in print. <br /><br />Anyhow, you're doing God's work on earth, Curt! We love what you're doing with Dean Street Press and Coachwhip. So don't worry about not being able to bring every single line written during the Golden Age back into print. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-21721173580398725022017-09-19T22:10:59.134+02:002017-09-19T22:10:59.134+02:00If the time-manipulation trick here is representat...If the time-manipulation trick here is representative of his other work, I think the comparison to Carr is more than justified. After all, Carr's pet technique was the rearrangement of space-and time. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-84350529494002595402017-09-19T21:40:36.519+02:002017-09-19T21:40:36.519+02:00On the series reprints, I've been trying to do...On the series reprints, I've been trying to do what I can to get the entire series reissued. In my opinion the British Library approach is best suited to small producers like Raymond Postgate and Anthony Rolls (the prewar pseudonym of C. E. Vulliamy), but less so to big producers like John Street, Gladys Mitchell, Christopher Bush, Jefferson Farjeon,John Dickson Carr, ER Punshon, the Coles, etc. At the rate they are going it would take literally decades to get all the books by some of these authors released. Not all of us have decades! I suppose it may be a valid marketing strategy but it's frustratingly piecemeal for the diehard fans.<br /><br />So far I've been able to get Connington, Henry Wade, Punshon and Bush reprinted, among the big producers and heavy hitters from the GA (outside of the famous first string of Christie, Sayers, etc). I also was able to bring Farjeon and Anthony Wynne to people's attention on the internet, though Bill Pronzini had written about Wynne before me and Tony Medawar was interested in him too. I tried to get all the Wynne books reprinted, but sometimes you get cooperation from families, sometimes you don't. Connington's daughter was very helpful, for example, as was Henry Wade's son. I think it helps when you are dealing with the actual children, but not many of them are alive anymore! <br /><br />Still, the British seem to be doing better at this than the Americans. We may have awakened the world to the reality that other people in the UK wrote vintage mystery besides the Crime Queens, but a lot of people still seem to think, as PD James did, that classic mystery was the sole province of the British.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-55299306343862080092017-09-19T21:26:21.080+02:002017-09-19T21:26:21.080+02:00When I quoted Nick's line in the introduction,...When I quoted Nick's line in the introduction, I wondered whether I should mention Crofts, as he was commonly designated the alibi king of his day, based on the reputation he had built up in the Twenties. But Bush has a real flair for them and is a livelier writer. I don't really consider him a "Humdrum" writer, at least not in the prewar period, because he has more of an interest in the gamesmanship between the reader and the author that Carr valued so highly. Nick compares Bush to Carr at times and I can see the point. Both authors even mention Maskelyne and Devant, the magicians.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-53908070510987584742017-09-19T18:20:24.511+02:002017-09-19T18:20:24.511+02:00“If someone is looking for an alibi king, Crofts i...“<i>If someone is looking for an alibi king, Crofts is certainly in the running</i>.”<br /><br />I've only a read a few by Crofts, but <i>Mystery in the Channel</i> certainly has a great alibi-trick worthy of that title. <br /><br />“<i>It is difficult for books which are too topical to stand the test of time; when the issues with which they deal fade, the books tend to fade with them</i>.”<br /><br />This is why plot actually matters. You can get topical, or even political, but a detective story needs a plot that can stand on its own when you strip it of the issues the story is dressed in. <br /><br />The previously mentioned <i>Mystery in the Channel</i> is a good example, which strongly condemns the financial “sheninangans” of its time, but the story never degenerates into moralistic showboating. It is an excellently plotted detective story that can even be considered an ancestor to the modern-day police procedural. <br /><br />Sadly, those modern-day police produrals and crime novels have forgotten the lessons of their ancestors. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-69533163817727507032017-09-19T17:57:25.362+02:002017-09-19T17:57:25.362+02:00Thanks for the recommendations, Nick! And isn'...Thanks for the recommendations, Nick! And isn't it wonderful people can finally follow up on your recommendations? Back in the mid-2000s, I wanted to try all those Mitchell's you praised or discussed on your old website, but was almost entirely depended on the Rue Morgue Press reprints. Now all of her detective novels are back in print. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-5094555598161305072017-09-19T10:16:09.512+02:002017-09-19T10:16:09.512+02:00Good review - and I'm amused to see myself quo...Good review - and I'm amused to see myself quoted! Bush is uneven, but, at his best, excellent. Of the first ten, I'd recommend DEAD MAN TWICE and TCOT APRIL FOOLS (both excellent). I'd probably rank UNFORTUNATE VILLAGE higher if I hadn't read it at one chapter a day for a fortnight!Nick Fullerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05668031989499870182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-79553356513364455922017-09-19T02:19:37.107+02:002017-09-19T02:19:37.107+02:00House of Stratus did us an immense service. I was ...House of Stratus did us an immense service. I was able to complete my collections of R. Austin Freeman, Freeman Wills Crofts, Sapper, Anthony Berkeley and others from their reprints.<br /><br />If someone is looking for an alibi king, Crofts is certainly in the running.<br /><br />It is difficult for books which are too topical to stand the test of time; when the issues with which they deal fade, the books tend to fade with them. I suspect that modern authors are being essentially forced to write using selected issues under editorial coercion; the end result is that their backlist will be unsalable. The backlist is the gift that keeps on giving for both writer and publisher. Then another publisher goes out of business and there are even fewer markets for authors and the whole thing goes into a death spiral. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-66750694291988989162017-09-18T22:46:58.711+02:002017-09-18T22:46:58.711+02:00Michael Innes is another writer who was able to pu...Michael Innes is another writer who was able to publish one, or two, detective novels a year until he retired in the mid-1980s. I don't know how obscure he became upon his retirement, but he was one of the first GAD authors to be brought back in print during the very early 2000s by House of Stratus. Gladys Mitchell followed during the mid-2000s. So maybe their late retirement/passing left a stronger impression in the minds of the people who were reprinting their work at the time. Anyhow...<br /><br />The problem of publishers not giving writers the time and space to grow and built an audience could have been solved by the self-publishing industry, but that branch of publishing still has a crippling problem with quality control. <br /><br />However, the proper publishing houses also suffer from a quality problem, which is the biggest reason why so many of today's writers will be forgotten over the next twenty years. Just look at what has been written and published over the past ten, twenty, thirty or forty years. What has survived? What is still being read? And how many of those will still be read a hundred years from now? I really believe what is being written is a bigger factor in today's writers destined to be completely forgotten than not getting the time and space to grow. <br /><br />Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Age are standing up to the test of time, but very much doubt many of today's modern, hard-hitting, socially and politically driven crime novels will be read or sought after in the 2060s and beyond. <br /><br />One of the perks of having a taste for these classics, is that they become more readily available with each passing year. A complete reprint of Bush's detective novels is the latest example of this. So I don't really care regular publishers are pumping out raw sewage. As long as I have these reprints, a slowly expanding public domain and a secondhand book market to fall back on when the first two fail.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-43844110107126555182017-09-18T19:58:29.780+02:002017-09-18T19:58:29.780+02:00This is most excellent news. I have a number of Bu...This is most excellent news. I have a number of Bush novels, but most are, as you noted, prohibitively priced until now.<br /><br />Of the ones I have read, they are indeed the reason why I love detective stories -- written prior to 1970.<br /><br />The Bush phenomenon is in fact fairly common in Great Britain. There were a good many detective story writers who reached a large enough constant public to make it profitable for them to publish their yearly detective novel for 30 or 40 years. When no more were published, their reputation swiftly faded. Gladys Mitchell, for instance, a writer I dislike, still fit this pattern. She produced her yearly mystery like clockwork from 1929 right up to her death in 1983. I have no doubt she had a single publisher and made a large enough profit from her regular reading public to keep going over the decades. Over time, this permits a good author to sometimes produce excellent work: they need time to develop. You don't see this any more because there are hardly any real bookmen left who are in publishing for the love of it; what you see are only a much shrunken number of publishers owned by large corporations who are only interested in first pushing their propaganda message and secondly making a profit. The pattern we often see with new mysteries is that the author publishes a few mysteries, a large enough profit is not made (even though they make a profit), and then their books vanish for good. I think I can confidently predict that no mystery novelist now writing will still be in print, or be reprinted, 50 years from now (assuming anyone is still capable of reading 50 years from now). Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com